This class B3 locomotive was built by Peckett & Sons in 1950 for the National Coal Board (NCB) and was deployed at Brynlliw Colliery in South Wales.
Brynlliw Colliery
The colliery at Brynlliw was originally sunk in 1903 but due to the depression the mine ceased production in 1925 and was abandoned two years later.
Following the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947 the National Coal Board (NCB) embarked on a scheme to reopen the colliery in 1954. The colliery was officially opened in 1960 after a scheme costing £4.8m which enabled a six feet seam to be mechanised resulting in an output of over 300,000 tons by 1968.
In 1963 four men were fatally injured in what was described as a roof fall.
Cefn Coed Colliery
This colliery, which was five miles north of Neath, started producing coal in 1930 and was one of the deepest anthracite coal mines in the world with one seam being 750 yards below the surface. It was also one of the most dangerous coalmines in Wales where many men lost their lives in dangerous working conditions gaining the colliery the nickname of ‘The Slaughterhouse’.
After nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947 the NCB embarked on a major reconstruction of the colliery driving a shaft in such a way as to cut through all of the seams available for working. As a result the total manpower in the pit of 734, was reduced in 1958 by 276 underground and 104 on the surface. In 1959 the pit was still losing £5 11s 8d (about £5.6p) per ton of coal produced. The colliery ceased production in 1968.
Morlais Colliery
By the late 1970s, Morlais had been connected and merged with Brynlliw Colliery under the River Lougher. The 1976 connection between the two colleries was a 295 yard roadway under the estuary In 1977 the pits formed into one unit with all output via Brynlliw shafts.
The whole complex was closed by 1981.
The locomotive is now on static display in the open at Kidwelly Industrial Museum.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 